Golf Sim Clubhouse Forum

A quick question, more forlight discussion from a philosophy major who enjoys picking thoughts apart.

When you build, do you asume that everyone will play from the tips, and leave it at that? Or do you plan out the other tee boxes as well?

Not everyone plays from the tips but it's probably a pretty high percentage at this point. Once in a while I'll play from a different tee just to see a course from a different perspective. It gives a course a little more replay value. I've also played a few times with my Dad and since that's the only time he ever plays he takes the middle tee and standard ability so we have a more fair/even match. When I design real courses I like to get every detail so I put all the tees in that the real course has. For fictional courses I would probably do 3 or 4 sets of tees.

I would encourage designers to think about play from all the tees. My oldest daughter and I play from the tournament tees but my youngest daughter plays from the pro tees and my dad plays from the closest tees. When we play together as a family we really need to have a fair way of competing and having fun. My dad hates it when he has no shot of clearing the water from the back tees and my daughters hate to play from a tee that leaves them with nothing but a LW after their tee shots. Me? I am for any advantage I can get - those girls are good

I put all tees in on all of my courses. You don't know how people play the game and what they prefer to use for tees. Not everyone likes to play from the pro tees, as it can be a disadvantage for the players who don't hit long.

In my more resent releases I try to pay more attention to all the tees not just the tournament tee box area. Since I always play from the tournament tees and most others do I did'nt always pay attention to the other tee areas. They were there for looks mostly.

Its part of what makes designing so hard for this game. Most only play tourney tees and advanced ability. But skill level in players is in a much broader spectrum. Building a course that everyone enjoys and finds to be the same difficulty is impossible. Unless however they used the different tees provided and or lowered there abilty level to mirror there actual game.

I asked this question on the last course I built and basically received the same answers as you're getting here:
1. Most people do play the tourney tees, but not all;
2. Sometimes people like to vary their shots;
3. Esthetically, a course looks more realistic with multiple tee sites. (I've never used the gold/forward tees though, just black-blue-white-red.)

But then that raises another question. Some designers used a "runway" approach to their tees, ie, all tees are on one teeblock long enough to land a small airplane on. Others have a separate teeblock for each, while others combine two tees then separate the other blocks( .) What is your preference(s) here?

I always use at least 4 sets of tees. It's mainly aesthetic, to make it look more like a real course. The yardage gap between tees determines whether I use separate teeboxes for each set. If they're close together I'll use one longer teebox for both. I rarely have more than 2 sets on one teebox.

I like long, thin tee boxes. They are quite realistic of many real designers, most notably Robert Trent Jones. I may use two or three tee boxes per hole for five tee positions.

Aesthetics and realism are definitely a consideration but, for me, a good set of tees not only offer a difference in yardage but also in tee shot playing angle - which is possibly the most effective way of making a course challenging to a Tour Pro, but also playable for you grandmother. If you design every hole with Tiger and Granny equally in mind, you will likely end up with a very playable and fair course enjoyed by all.

You can make a relatively straight forward hole much more challenging my changing the tee shot angle, as you can force a Pro to carry a hazard rather than just skirt to the side of it. Taking that thought one step further you can provide a progressive carry where the braver the successful drive is, the more it is rewarded by the next shot (better line in to the green, shorter shot in, green sloped towards you etc.

Hopefully this makes a match between Tiger and your granny an even one.

I've attached an example from the 12th hole on my contest course (**in the next post**). Not the perfect example but it emphasizes the point.

Cheers
LL